Cookpad Logo

A website company in Japan succeeded in getting over six million users (95.1% of which are women I might add) and dominate the market share- all without the help of advertisement. We’ve learned the importance of advertising for a firm’s success, so what happened in this case?

“Cookpad” is a website for users to share their own recipes for anyone to see. I believe the key to their success what that the owner of the company had a strong and clear mission statement- the first step to an effective market plan.

Sano Akimitsu, the owner of Cookpad, believed that cooking good meals make people secure and happy, creating a ripple of smiles. Therefore, he would only take actions that “brought people joy from cooking” and not make good choices, but the best. He had turned down tempting deals and offers from investors since they did not directly contribute to the mission statement. Sano knew that it was most important to connect and build trust with the users, and would always consider what is best for the customers. He focused on making the website as simple and useful as possible, and to keep a positive vibe on the website. This determination brought users to spread positive words about Cookpad and that is how it grew to the size it is today.

I was impressed how Sano did not take any of the offers because Cookpad has a lot of potential for profit. He knew that if Cookpad stopped fulfilling the ultimate goal, users would decrease and have an adverse effect on the company. Instead of costly advertisements, Sano held recipe contests and events for families to cook together which would teach them the joy of cooking. Before heavy advertisement, a company must have a clear vision of their purpose.

Uesaka, Toru. The Business of Cookpad: Six Million Female Supporters. Tokyo:Kadokawa SS Communications,2009